Happy Birthday, President Kimball!

Our prophets have always had a sincere love for children and a great concern for their happiness.

Spencer W. Kimball, our prophet today, once expressed this love and concern in a birthday letter written to a young boy:

Dear Roger,

It was so good to get better acquainted with you last weekend. You are getting to be quite a little man. You will soon have your eighth birthday, and you are getting big enough to help mama with the baby, and, of course, the best way you can help your mother is to do all the things she asks and do nothing she tells you not to do.

You are now getting old enough to look into the future, with the help of your daddy and mother, and begin to plan your life’s work. You will get great joy and satisfaction out of planning your life and then following your plan. You will want to complete your grade school, your high school, attend college and go on a mission to some place in the world and preach the gospel. You will want to go through all the programs of the Church and learn all you can about this life and the eternal life. You will be baptized and confirmed and then later, in succession, become a deacon, a teacher, a priest, and finally an elder ready to fill your mission.

In order to do all these things, you will need to keep your life clean and free from the ugly things which you will be prompted are wrong. You will always know when things are right if you are prayerful and always listen for the Spirit to guide you.

When the time comes for you to do your final courting and find the proper wife for time and eternity, you will take her to the holy temple. When you have done all these things, I will expect that you will be a great man, honored and respected in your community, loved and followed in your Church program. May the Lord bless you.

Faithfully yours,

Elder Spencer W. Kimball

Happy Birthday, President Kimball

We love you and pray for you always and will try to remember the wise counsel you gave to Roger